Ottoman and Safavid Comparison

﻿Comparison of the Safavid and Ottoman EmpiresThe Ottoman Empire and the Safavid Empire were both Muslim Empires, along with the Mughal Empire, which developed around the same time in history. The Ottoman Empire and the Safavid Empire were both very significant and successful empires in the Middle East. The Ottoman Empire is similar to the Safavid Empire because they share similar intellectual style and development, and they share similar artistic styles. The Ottoman Empire differs from the Safavid Empire because of the difference in their religious beliefs.

The Ottoman Empire and the Safavid Empire both share similar intellectual development. Both the Ottomans and the Safavids both had a majority of the citizens able to read and write. In both empires, the princes were able to fluently read and write. Both the Ottomans and the Safavids left lasting legacies of their literature behind them after their decline. Also, both the Ottomans and the Safavids shared the languages Turkish, Arabic, and Persian. The Ottomans and Safavids both wrote primarily in Arabic. They mostly spoke in Turkish, but a large amount of people also spoke in Persian.

The Ottomans and the Safavids also shared artistic style. Both the Ottomans and the Safavids centered their artistic styles around religion. For example, the Safavids and the Ottomans both built many large, beautiful mosques. Also, the Ottomans and Safavids manufactured textiles, which were used for trading, and weaved carpets, which were used in mosques. Lastly, the Ottomans and Safavids were both based heavily on architecture. The Ottomans and the Safavids both designed and constructed large mosques and buildings.

The Ottomans and the Safavids had conflicting religious beliefs. In the Ottoman Empire, the majority of people were Sunnite Muslims. Sunnite Muslims believed that Muhammad’s successor could be a Muslim that is not related to Muhammad. Sunnite Muslims had a very strong dislike for Shi’ite Muslims. In the...

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...Ottoman Turks-1280
Safavids-1487
• Compare and Contrast: Socially, Politically, Economically, Religiously, Militarily.
(Socially)
Ottoman Turks: Each millet, or nation, inside the empire had separate social customs in accordance with the religion of the millet, Muslim women had harsh restrictions as with Islamic law, but the non-Muslim, women were subject to separate laws, and Even Muslim women had more rights than in other Muslim nations.
Safavids: Mixed society just like the Ottoman, Turkic-speaking tribal groups, Aristocrats had limited power and influence.
(Political)
Ottoman Turks: The Ottoman Empire was the most successful at maintaining power for a longer time. It was able to survive until modern times. The two other empires collapsed by the seventeenth century. The leader of the Ottoman Turks was known as the Sultan which was similar to an emperor. It was hereditary. Islamic Law was applied to all Muslims.
Safavid: Shahs walked around the streets in disguise in order to find the honesty of the citizens. High positions were given by merit and often were foreigners.
(Economic)
Ottoman Turks: Starting in the 15th century pottery, rugs, silk, other textiles, jewelry, arms and armor, and calligraphy flourished. Justinian had brought cultivation of silkworms to the area in the 16 th century. Silks were produced under the...

...royal patronage, the arts flourished under the Ottomans and Safavids.
Ottoman art was a vibrant synthesis of Turkish and Persian-Islamic, Byzantine, and Mediterranean culture and styles through conquest, through direct invitation of artisans, or through the migration of peoples. The Ottoman Turks were renowned for their architecture, as well as for their traditions of calligraphy and miniature painting. They were also renowned for their decorative arts including carpet weaving, jewelry making, paper marbling, and their characteristic Iznik ware ceramics. The Ottomans promoted themselves as the defenders of Islam, and this explains why their public art includes a rich variety of ornamental designs but no human figures. Plant- and flower-based patterns were the most common. Observing Iznik ceramics, a superficial abstraction is dominant in the naturalistic plant designs. Besides, around 16th century Ottoman Miniature Art reached its peak. The Miniatures and illuminated manuscripts were created largely for the emperors, with their focus mostly on the important and powerful figures in their retinues. A unique feature of Ottoman Miniature was that it depicted the actual events realistically, while also keeping the abstract formal expressive touch of the traditional Islamic Art.
The Safavid style developed in Iran from 1500, when the country was re-united under...

...The Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal societies all relied on bureaucracies that drew inspiration from the steppe traditions of Turkish and Mogol people and from the heritage of Islam, they adopted similar policies, they looked for ways to keep peace in their societies which were made up of different religious and ethnic backgrounds, and they were associated with literary and artistic talents. Military and religious factors gave rise to all three of these empires.
The Ottoman Empire: The Ottoman dynasty, in which, was named for its founder Osman Bey, a leader of a band of semi-nomadic Turks who migrated to northwestern Anatolia in the thirteenth century. Osman and his followers sought to become ghazi warriors who fought for their faith. The Ottoman’s location on the borders of the Byzantine Empire, allowed Osman and his men the opportunity to wage holy war. The dynasty lasted from 1289 to 1923, but it gained its most power during the sixteenth century, when it expanded its control from the base of Anatolia and spread across most of Europe, Egypt, and North Africa.
The Safavid Empire: Like the Ottomans, the Safavid Empire grew from Turkish nomadic descendents. But, unlike the Ottomans, the Safavids were Shiite, not Sunni Muslims. “In 1499, a twelve year old boy who was in hiding for five years, named Ismail, came out to seek revenge upon the...

...political and social structures. Two of these empires are the Ottomans and the Safavids. The rise of the Ottomans correlates with the decline of the Roman Empire, which generated the shift in power from a singular Christian European society to a more Islamic influence. The Ottoman people became powerful in Asia Minor, which collapsed as a Seljuk Turk Kingdom, in the 13th to 14th centuries. The Safavids rose to power following the collapse of the Turkic Empire and invasion of the Mongols in the 13th and 14th centuries. Although the Safavids had advanced political and social systems, the Ottoman empire had more efficient political and social methods.
The Ottomans and the Safavids both had strong features to their political systems. The Ottomans controlled using a strong military, use of weapons, and an extensive bureaucracy. Their empire was known to be geared for warfare. The Ottoman empire had strong governmental power. They ruled in their center of Constantinople, which the Ottomans built defense walls around, aqueducts in, and was where they opened their markets. Absolute power was granted to their Sultans, such as Suleymon the Magnificent. Another unique political factor of the Ottomans was their use of Janissaries. Janissaries were Ottoman infantry divisions that were...

...The Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughals were all gunpowder empires. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the differences between all of these empires mentioned. Each fall into five different categories.
Socially, the Ottoman Turks were each millet, or a nation, inside the empire and had separate social customs in accordance with the religion of the millet. Muslim women had harsh restrictions as with Islamic law, but the non-Muslim women were subject to separate laws. Even Muslim women had more rights than in other Muslim nations. In the Safavid empire socially, they were a mixed society just like the Ottoman empire. The aristocrats had limited power and influence. They were also Turkic-speaking tribal groups. In the Mughal empire socially, were Hindu population. They had been threatened by the ruling Muslims. Akbar, who was originally a Muslim gave the Hindu more rights.
On the Political side, the Ottoman Turks was the most successful at maintaining power for a longer time. It was able to survive until modern times. The two other empires collapsed by the seventeenth century. The leader of the Ottoman Turks was known as the Sultan which was similar to an emperor. It was hereditary. Islamic Law was applied to all Muslims. Regarding the Safavid empire politically, the Shahs walked around the streets in disguise in order to find the sincerity of the...

...﻿Valery Umana
Po. 3
1\30\15
The Rise and Fall of the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empires
The Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empires were forces to be reckoned with back in the day. Being powerful entities, their rise was paved with military prowess, religious tolerance, and having meritocratic systems, though this is not always the case. Their fall, however, was the result of their treatment of peasants, a plague of horrid rulers, and shortsighted economic handling.
The Ottomans were blessed for forty-six years with one of the greatest rulers of the thirteenth century – Suleiman the Magnificent. Suleiman brought the Ottoman Empire into a Golden Age, where architecture, literature, art, theology, and philosophy flourished. Being one of the few empires in the 1500’s to have a meritocratic system, everyone in Suleiman’s court was prudently and cautiously chosen by the Sultan himself, proving that this is why “they are successful in their undertakings.” (Doc. 3) Part of the reason why the Ottomans were so successful in persisting for 624 years is for their religious tolerance. Although those of any faith other than Islam had to pay a special tax for the sole purpose of practicing their customs, the Ottomans were very lax on religion. Their religious tolerance was adapted into the Safavid and Mughal empires, where it was, like anything else in life,...

...Anthony Gustely and Delaney Pressler
WHAP B Block
The Safavids (1501­1736)
Who are they?
● The Safavids were members of the Safavid Empire
that ruled Persia (present day Iran) from 1501­1736
and strayed from Sunni Islam and founded Shia
Islam as the official religion of the state.
Where are they from?
● The Safavids were from Persia, which is now
present­day Iran.
What nations or empires bordered this kingdom?
● The Ottoman Empire bordered the Safavid Empire
from the west
○ composed of Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Hungary,
Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, parts of Arabia, and much of the coastal strip of
North Africa
● The Mughal Empire from the east
○ most of India and Pakistan.
● The Circassians from the north
○ Southern parts of Russia
● Uzbeks from the northeast
○ present­day Uzbekistan.
Who were the rulers or key leaders of the kingdom?
● Shah Ismail­ Founder of the Safavids
○ united about 9 local states into his own Iranian state
○ background and lineage was disputed, but he was bilingual from birth
■ possible nationalities: Azeri, Kurdish, Pontic, or Greek
○ was very charismatic and believed he was divine
● Shāh Tahmāsp
○ succeeded his father in 1524
■ he was ten years old and three months
○ There were very many internal power struggles and the
government was very structured
■...

...economically and militarily. Muhammed Ali refashioned the armed forces, reorganized the adminstaration, changed the policies of landholding and agricultural production.
Muhammed ali’s ampitions were clear. He expanded his territorre to north sudan, west coast of Arabia, parts of syria and Palestine and parts of Anatolia. His plans was to secure independence from the Ottoman empire, and to establish in Egypt a hereditary dynasty for his family. The main purpose of Muhammed Ali’s reforms was to strengthen the armed forces. He modeled his military along European lines. The goal of building european- style army was to get rid of the Mamluks. Mamluks were opposing Muhammed Ali’s reforms and they refuse to obey him, consequently Muhammed Ali massacred about 74 of them as they were leaving his castle after dinner. This step helped Muhammad Ali to atcheive his reforms.
In addition of sending military training mission to Europe, Muhammed Ali reforms education as well . He Opened school of medicine, engineering, chemistry, the school of languge. Muhammed Ali’s acceptance of the printing press was a break from the tradition of the Ottoman, that would open the door for his ambitions of building his dynesty.
Muhammed Ali stoped the iltizam system, and applied tax on everybody even Waqf lands. He break the hold of the Ulama over waqfs. This reform increase the state control over lands and revenues, and reduce the wealth of the Mamluks and the ulama....